TV Tuesday: The 5 biggest TV Grinches

Had enough holiday cheer yet? Maybe you thrive on the festive fuel, chirping out “happy holidays” like a partridge in a Prozac-filled tree. Or, maybe you’ve overdosed, eyes glassy and belt stretched taut thanks to stuffing that did just what its name promised.

If it’s the former, more Christmas pudding to you. If it’s the latter, chances are you could use a dose of the Grinch – just a little, to reset your equilibrium. On Tuesday night ABC airs the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the 2000 version starring Jim Carrey.

Notorious for his heart “two sizes too small,” with only a scowl saved for one and for all, the Grinch is the most hated in Whoville. Until, that is, he shows some humanity and his mean green hue seems but a pastel memory of prickliness.

With that in mind, here are five other Grinchy characters on TV – though combined they probably have the strength of 10 Grinches, plus two.

1. Kevin O’Leary

The resident grumpy-pants on Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank once groused to the New York Post, “I’m not trying to make friends; I’m trying to make money.” Last year, he even played Scrooge on the holiday special for This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

But it seems this year he’s more charitable – on the festive episode of Dragons’ Den he was moved by a man who created an action-figure line, and set him up with a big meeting with a toy investor.

2. Simon Cowell

This caustic Brit not only seems to have a heart two sizes too small, but a like-sized T-shirt collection as well. His put-downs are well-documented – just this year on The X Factor, among other things, he’s uttered, “Years ago I sat on two cats, and that’s what it sounded like.”

Makes those rare moments of praise all the more sweet, I guess.

3. Sue Sylvester

She’s the track-suited terror of McKinley High. Though Glee’s villain has tried with cartoonish delight to shut down New Directions (and pondered stunts like shooting a cheerleader out of a cannon), she has her warm, fuzzy side – and an abiding affection for her late sister Jean, pint-sized cheerleader Becky, and her new baby Robin.

4. Mr. Burns

Yellow in hue, black in heart. The Simpsons’ millionaire once attempted to steal the sunlight from Springfield’s residents, but he reached new lows when he tried to steal candy from a baby – and got shot for it – in the show’s sixth season. His Rosebud, as we learned in season five, is his childhood teddy bear, Bobo.

5. Sheldon Cooper

A more persnickety physicist there never was. Despite being raised in a staunchly Christian home in Texas, the Big Bang Theory character is particularly irked by the holidays.

“I found the Grinch to be a relatable and engaging character,” he’s said. “And I was really with him right up the point that he succumbed to social convention and returned the presents and saved Christmas. What a buzzkill that was.”

Thankfully, neighbour Penny proved to be his Cindy Lou Who, and cracked his anti-Christmas crust with the ultimate gift: A napkin signed by Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy. It’s not only logical, but it’s also heartwarming.

(How the Grinch Stole Christmas, ABC, 8:30 ET/PT, 9:30 MT)

Three to See

• And from Whoville to Doctor Who. Space airs a new episode of the sci-fi classic, The Snowmen, in which the Doctor helps a governess battle a frosty menace. It’s far more complex, I presume, than wielding a floor heater. (Space, 9 ET, 6 PT, 7 MT)

• They may not be riding reindeer-led sleighs, but the drivers on Highway Thru Hell have a treacherous course nonetheless. The docuseries airs a 10-episode marathon featuring Jamie Davis and his crew as they navigate the Coquihalla Highway. (Discovery, 2 ET, 11 PT, noon MT)

• CBC airs the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street, in which a man tries to prove a department store Santa is the real thing. (CBC, 8 ET/PT/MT)